These are Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP), the Interior Ministry said upon request. In addition, there is “situational personal protection”, which can be “extended to all possible people” if necessary.
Threats have tended to increase “since the pandemic at the latest,” it said.Vienna. In connection with the recent attacks on politicians in Germany and Austria, a ministry spokesman said that the question would only be answered “very generally” because this topic is very much about internal information and the safety of people. He did not want to provide any information on the number of people with situational personal protection in Austria, but according to reports this is in the low double-digit range.
Regarding situational personal protection, it was said that in the event of threats this could be extended to other ministers and politicians, but also to embassy staff or representatives of international organizations. “In certain circumstances, a private individual can also receive situational personal protection.”
The aim is “to prevent or ward off concrete physical dangers and attacks against the person being protected,” said the Interior Ministry. But police protection includes more than the physical presence of bodyguards. There is a broad catalog of measures that are individually adapted and are closely linked to property protection.
Increase in threats since the pandemic
The assessments are always created individually for specific people, with the Directorate of State Security and Intelligence (DSN) in contact with the respective state offices (LSE) and the EKO Cobra.
According to the Interior Ministry, a trend in threats against certain politically and publicly exposed people has been noticed “since the pandemic at the latest.” External factors such as the climate crisis or wars also contribute to the increase in threats, “which also has an impact on our situation reports and measures.”
In 2021, an unknown person tried to set fire to the facade of the New Town Hall in Linz with a gas cartridge; there were several attempts by anti-vaccination activists to get into the town hall on the sidelines of demonstrations. In 2017, a 22-year-old student attacked the car of the Upper Austrian deputy governor Manfred Haimbuchner (FPÖ) as he was on his way to the Linz boys’ association ball.
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